Part V: Lawmakers push for transparency

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Aug 25, 2021
Key Points
  • Medicare prescription-drugs have skyrocketed 89% in Georgia from 2013 to 2019.
  • Prices for common medications in Georgia have also ballooned during that time.
  • Cost transparency is lacking even from state government as key prescription-drug players blame each other.
Amid the fingerpointing, state lawmakers in Georgia have largely homed in on regulating pharmacy benefit managers’ practices and boosting cost transparency through several bills over the last few years. Since 2019, several state bills have been signed into law to block pharmacy benefit managers from directing patients to certain pharmacies over others and give health plans access to a larger share of drug discounts, called rebates. State lawmakers also passed recent legislation to disclose what rebates pharmacy benefit managers have collected ...